Xana's Apprentice: Rewritten
by Dartz the Fire Demon
Summary: A rewrite of my first fanfiction, Xana's Apprentice. Rating suject to change, and most likely will. Summary inside.


Xana's Apprentice

Summary: Ulrich and Yumi are finally going out. During a Xana attack, Yumi is captured by Xana. Ulrich must make a difficult decision in order to protect the girl he loves, and Odd, Aelita, and Jeremy, with the help of a newly freed William and a mysterious boy who shares a close tie with Aelita, are left to get them both back before Xana finally takes control.

**A/N: As promised, this is my first fanfiction, Xana's Apprentice, rewritten to fit my (hopefully) improved writing style. It now has 100% fewer crossovers and 80% less OC overload. You will be happy to find only three OCs in this incarnation: Dartz, Sharon, and Lisa. Let me know what you guys think, and I hope you all enjoy.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko. If I did, Evolution would already be out in America.

Chapter 1: The Mysterious Boy

It was a warm summer day at Kadic, with school less than a month away. Ulrich and Odd sat on one of the benches in the courtyard, waiting for Jeremy and Aelita to arrive so they could head to the cafeteria.

"Where are the Einstein Twins? We've been waiting for like an hour. Plus, it's almost lunch time."

"Odd, it's only been about five minutes." Ulrich said. "Besides, lunch will be there when we get there. There aren't enough people back from break yet for them to run out."

"Maybe so, but I'm hungry, Ulrich."

"You can hold off on food for a few more minutes, Odd. I'm sure they'll be down soon."

"Ulrich's right, Odd. You eat enough to where you won't be too bad off if you miss a meal." Yumi added as she took a seat on a second bench nearby.

"Yes I will. Look at me! I'm all skin and bones!" Odd exclaimed, pulling at the skin of his arm to show his lack of muscle and fat.

"For once I agree with him." Ulrich said. "He's so scrawny that he looks like he hasn't eaten in weeks."

"I'm not scrawny! I'm svelte."

"Whatever you say, Odd. So, are you joining us for lunch today, Yumi?" Yumi smiled and nodded.

"Yeah." She answered. "My parents said I could hang out here today since Hiroki and I finished all of our chores yesterday." Their conversation was interrupted as Jeremy and Aelita came running out of the dorms and over to them.

"We…have…to get...to the…factory." Jeremy said between breaths.

"Slow down and take a breath, Einstein." Odd said, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "What's going on?"

"Xana's launched an attack." Aelita supplied. "The superscan just picked up an activated tower in the Desert Sector."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Yumi asked, standing up with Ulrich right behind her. "Let's go!" She took off towards the forest, Ulrich, Jeremy, and Aelita close behind.

"But what about lunch?" Odd whined.

"We'll eat later, Odd!" Ulrich called back. "Come on!" Odd grumbled under his breath and took off after his friends.

"Do we have any idea what Xana's after?" Yumi asked as they made their way through the sewer system. Jeremy shook his head.

"No more than usual." The boy answered. "He's already gotten the Keys to Lyoko from Aelita's memory, so there's no telling what he wants now. Just make sure to keep Aelita away from William at all costs."

The Factory

As the gang exited the elevator into the computer lab, they could hear clicking as keys were pressed and a masculine voice mumbling. A boy no older than they were sat in the computer chair, typing away as he mumbled to himself. The boy had short black hair and was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt.

"Let's see here… activated tower, desert sector, coordinates, 20 degrees north, 35 degrees west, profile, re- scanned, virtualization program activated, everything's clear." He said before getting up. He turned toward the elevator and stopped cold when he saw the gang.

"Oh, great. I'm gone for three years and a bunch of kids turn the factory into a hangout."

"First of all, we are not kids. Second, who are you and what are you doing here?" Ulrich asked. The boy sighed.

"The name's Dartz. And I'm here to take care of some business, so beat it, all of you." The boy said.

"Well, 'Dartz' we're here on business, too. We have a computer virus to-" Jeremy was cut off as Dartz scoffed and shouldered past the group towards the ladder leading to the scanner room.

"Whatever you all think you're doing, you've got no idea what you're up against. I'd recommend you go home and leave this to me."

"Sorry, but we can't do that." Yumi stated. She stood in between Dartz and the ladder, ready to fight if the situation escalated to it. "Xana is our problem to deal with. I have no idea how you know about this factory, or Xana, or anything else, but we've been dealing with Xana for the past two years and we are more than capable of handling ourselves against him.

"As clearly shown by the fact that Xana's not trapped in the supercomputer anymore. I suppose that was your doing?"

"How do we know this guy isn't one of Xana's specters?" Odd whispered to Jeremy. "He could've sent it to distract us while he put whatever plan he has into action at the school."

"Only one way to find out." Ulrich said. He then jumped on top of Dartz, sending both boys to the ground. They struggled for a few seconds before Dartz flipped them over so that he was above Ulrich, his knee digging into the boy's chest.

"Do not, under any circumstances, try that again." Dartz said as he stood. "I'm no Xana specter, if that's what you think. I'm a living, breathing human being, just like the rest of you."

"Okay, so if you are human, then how do you know about Xana?" Aelita asked. "We've been fighting him for year now, and we've never found any evidence of anyone else using the supercomputer."

"I locked down all of my user information when I shut it down last. I didn't want anyone coming across it and finding out what was going on. I obviously didn't do a very good job. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go take care of Xana's tower before that specter that attacked me earlier finds something else to possess."

"We're coming with you. Fighting Xana is as much our job as it is yours." Odd said.

"Fine, if it'll get me there any faster, then you can come along. I'll need Aelita's help to deactivate the tower, anyway. Any of you any good at using the supercomputer?"

"That's usually my job." Jeremy said. "Unless I'm indisposed for some reason."

"Good, then I'll leave you to it. See you all on the virtual side." Dartz took the ladder down into the depths of the laboratory, followed closely by Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita.

"I still don't trust this guy." Ulrich said softly, so that only his friends could hear him.

"Neither do I, but he hasn't given us any reason not to." Yumi said. "Innocent until proven guilty, right?"

"I guess." They watched as Dartz stepped into the scanner.

"Dartz will have to go first since he already started the process." Jeremy said over the intercom. "I'll send the rest of you after him." Jeremy said over the intercom.

Dartz nodded as the scanner closed around later it opened again and Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi stepped inside.

"Transfer, Odd. Transfer, Ulrich. Transfer, Yumi. Scanner, Odd. Scanner, Ulrich. Scanner, Yumi. Virtualization!" Jeremy said. Aelita stepped into one of the scanners when it opened. "Transfer, Aelita. Scanner, Aelita. Virtualization!"

Lyoko: Desert Sector

On Lyoko, Odd, Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich fell to the ground and landed perfectly on their feet. Dartz stood next to them, arms crossed over his Lyoko form's leather armor, staring into the distance. They gave the boy a once over and took in his uniform. In addition to the leather armor covering his torso, Dartz was also wearing leather vambraces and boots, all dyed black. A longbow was slung over his shoulders along with a quiver of arrows. A set of throwing daggers was sheathed over his left shoulder and a short sword hung at his left hip.

"The activated tower is right over there." Dartz said, pointing to a tower just north of their position. Around it were three megatanks, four hornets, and a monster that looked like a lizard.

"The tower is being guarded by three megatanks, four hornets, and… that's weird I can't identify the last monster. Xana must have just created it." Jeremy said over his com-link.

"I've seen its profile in Franz Hopper's data files." Dartz said. "I think it's called a scorpion."

"A scorpion?" Aelita asked.

"Apparently it's one of Xana's strongest monsters. He only uses it in extreme circumstances. He must really not want us to get to that tower."

"We can handle him." Odd said confidently, pounding his chest. He rushed towards the scorpion. It fired a laser at Odd, hitting him square in the chest and knocking him back several paces.

" Odd, you just lost 70 life points! Be careful!" Jeremy yelled into the intercom. The scorpion began charging towards the group, followed closely by two of the megatanks. The gang drew their weapons, but Dartz held out a hand to calm them.

"Let me give it a shot." Dartz said. He shrugged his bow into his left hand and reached into his quiver and pulled out an arrow with his right. He nocked the arrow, drew, and sent it flying in the direction of the monsters. The arrow hit square in the center of the scorpion's eye and the creature toppled to the ground in front of the megatanks. One of the megatanks fell over the edge in an attempt to avoid its downed ally, while the other ran straight into the creature and knocked both off the edge into the digital abyss.

"You okay, Odd?" Ulrich asked, holding out his hand to help the boy to his feet.

"I feel like I just got run over by a bulldozer." Odd answered. Those scorpion blasts really hurt."

"Guys you still have a megatank and three hornets to destroy. I don't know what that specter is up to, but it can't be good. You need to hurry up." Jeremy said. The group engaged the remaining monsters and easily dispatched them.

"Aelita is at the tower, Jeremy." Ulrich said as the pink haired girl ran into the tower.

"You know, it's kind of strange that Xana didn't send William to defend the tower." Odd pondered. "Wouldn't he have been more of a threat?"

"Xana probably didn't expect Dartz to shoot his scorpion down in one shot." Yumi answered. "That was a good shot, by the way."

"Thanks." Dartz said. "If I may ask, who's William?"

"One of our friends." Ulrich answered. "He got possessed by Xana and destroyed the core of Lyoko a few weeks back. We've been trying to find a way to get him back, but we haven't had any luck yet." Dartz nodded, but said no more on the subject.

AELITA

CODE:

_LYOKO_

"Tower, deactivated." Aelita said.

"Return to the past now." Jeremy said. Everyone relaxed as the familiar white light enveloped the remained of the group on Lyoko as well as the real world.

**So, I hope everyone likes the rewritten Xana's Apprentice so far. I'm going to let you guys make a decision for me here. I'm half and half on keeping Sharon as an OC for the rewrites. My ex-girlfriend was the inspiration for her character, but as I'm sure is obvious by the fact that she's my ex now, I feel slightly dirty keeping the character in. However, I do know how much of a hit she was as a romantic interest for Dartz, so I will let you, my loyal readers, make the decision. Sharon: stay or go? Give me an answer in a review, and the most votes wins. Either way, you should expect the next chapter to be up by the end of the week, or by Monday next week.**

**P.S: The original Xana's Apprentice will stay on my page for nostalgia purposes, but the original Virus series will be discontinued, with this series taking the place of my main Code Lyoko series.**


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